Andrew Bird, Suzanne Vega blog for New York Times
Perhaps the finest part of listening to Andrew Bird is pondering exactly how he got those words to fit together in that way and on top of such whistling. But buckle up, dear reader, because the confounding melodies and mysteries of Andrew Bird have finally been explained! Or at least an attempt has been made, and by Bird himself. Turns out, he really is on a whole different level than everyone else. We have The New York Times’ new blog, Measure for Measure, to thank for this insight. The blog, Bird’s entry marking its beginning, will give four master songwriters... read more
Ladytron tours, gives away free MP3
One of the perks of working for an entertainment publication is the privilege to hear forthcoming albums. This enables us to tell you, our loyal and most esteemed audience, when to (and when not to) download one of the plethora of tracks that are floating around the interweb. That's how we're able to tell you to download the below MP3 if you're a fan of electronic, hip-hop, electroclash, alternative or pop music. Or drums. Or dancing. Or shady S & M clubs. Or seedy strip joints. Or if you're actually a stripper. Or if you are dating a stripper. Or... read more
M.I.A., Holy Fuck tour together, separately
Ever since November of last year, everyone's favorite bamboo banga M.I.A. has been, well, M.I.A. There was a brouhaha over MTV censoring her “Paper Planes” video, and she's also selling Converse with a zombie Ian Curtis, but as far as live performances go, we’ve been going through some serious M.I.A. withdrawal. Well, the wait is over. Via a news post from her seizure-inducing website, M.I.A. is heading back on the road. Joining her for part of the tour will be Holy Fuck. The two groups will meet up in late April for a few North American shows, and then part... read more
Old 97's tour, Blame it on Gravity
Longtime twangy-meets-jangly Texas rockers, Old 97's, have announced plans to release their first new album in four years, Blame it On Gravity, on May 13 via New West Records. In the meantime, through April 9 fans can go to Old97s.NewWestRecords.com and sign up to receive an exclusive digital download of a performance of the new song "My Two Feet." The footage was filmed live at the end of the band's recording session party in Dallas earlier this year. In late May, frontman Rhett Miller and the rest of the poppy-meets-alt-country Old 97's crew will kick off a nationwide tour at... read more
Dr Pepper offers free soda for GNR's Democracy in 2008
Sometimes love for a particular kind of art transcends all societal boundaries and expectations. Case in point: It seems even employees at soft drink conglomerates are becoming frustrated over the wait for the next Guns N' Roses album. Speculations for the cost of the still-forthcoming followup to the GNR 1993 covers collection The Spaghetti Incident run in the $13 million range. Entitled Chinese Democracy, it's had several rumored and announced release dates, the most recent of which was March of last year, but no album has actually followed. After more than a decade, Axl Rose, the man responsible for Paste's... read more
The truth (about the X-Files movie sequel) is right here
Remember The X-Files? It was that show about aliens with the creepy-awesome theme music, where the two main characters had a crazy will-they-or-won't-they vibe that far surpassed the one that Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain had over on ABC. X-Philes will remember the last X-Files movie that came out in 1998, four years before the television version of the show actually ended. Now, a decade later, those crazy kids known as Mulder and Scully will reunite once again in a nursing home! Aliens with walkers! Fogies from outerspace! Only kidding. It hasn't been that long. The new movie has, of... read more
FX buys four-year license to 15 Universal films
FX will pay more than $100 million to complement its line-up of successful drama shows—which includes Rescue Me, The Riches and Nip/Tuck—with 15 Universal theatrical releases. With this deal, FX will pay Universal an average of 11% of the movies' gross U.S. revenue for a four-year license term. The deal includes unreleased titles Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Revenge of the Mummy and Leatherheads, as well as already-premiered titles such as In Bruges, Jarhead and Eastern Promises. FX's purchase follows a growing trend between television stations and film-production companies. Earlier this year, the Turner networks (TBS and TNT) pre-bought a... read more
YouTube makes history with The Cult of Sincerity
Tired of the bored, snobby, passionless mindset of the hipster generation? Well, so were filmmakers Adam Browne and Brendan Choisnet, so much so that they were inspired to create The Cult of Sincerity. Don’t worry, there are no Kool-Aid drinkers or matching uniforms in this movie. Instead, The Cult of Sincerity is a film that chronicles a twentysomething named Joseph in his quest to stop being cynical and start giving back to the world around him. Still, what makes this movie different from any other is the nature of its release. Set to come out April 8, you’ll be able... read more
Numero Group releases No-Hitter trading card series
Chicago’s Numero Group is releasing a series of No-Hitter trading cards featuring various artists from label’s catalog. This is great news for those of us who never had any interest in baseball cards (or sports in general), but always longed to join in the school yard swap meets every day during recess. We can finally join in the collecting fervor by searching for that elusive Man Child Singers card, or trading a friend a duplicate Helene Smith card for his Jack & the Mods. Hey, no backsies! The Numero Group has a long-standing tradition of spotlighting little-known artists from all... read more
Oliver Stone casts Brolin, Banks, Cromwell for W
Director Oliver Stone, the Oscar-nominated jack-of-all-trades with a penchant for presidents, is setting in stone (pun so intended) the cast members for his forthcoming W, a biopic on George W. Bush. Josh Brolin, recently in No Country For Old Men and American Gangster, had already been cast as the President for the lead role, and Elizabeth Banks, who just finished filming a Porno, was cast as First Lady Laura Bush. Most recently, James Cromwell was set as W’s father, President George Herbert Walker Bush, and Ellen Burstyn as the former first lady, Barbara Bush. This is not Cromwell’s first role... read more
She & Him kick off spring with some NY & CA
Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward will be making a few appearances at both coasts, with dates in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Although the dates are few, the duo of She & Him prefer to keep their fans in suspense, announcing tour dates two and three at a time. No matter, though—for those two we would wait at least as long as it takes to savor a Whole Foods chicken salad, if not longer. Not up for the road trip? She & Him will also be appearing on NPR’s Fresh Air this afternoon at 3 p.m. and... read more
Gyllenhaal, Morgan and Marsden soon to get Nailed
It is not every day that a romantic comedy, much less an American one not starring John Cusack, gets the thought tongues a-wagging. That being said, the recent castings in David O. Russell's (number 13 in Paste’s 2005 Art House Powerhouse) Nailed have caused hordes to look in the direction of this film. According to Reuters, James Marsden, Catherine Keener and Tracy Morgan are finalizing negotiations for supporting roles. While those three alone put the movie in the must-watch column for 2009, even without the aforementioned talent, the film seems to be shaping up nicely. It stars Jessica Biel as... read more
The Feelies plan reunion shows
Idolator recently reported that alt-rock pioneers The Feelies will play a few shows in the New Jersey and New York area over July 4th weekend (including one opening for Sonic Youth in Central Park). If the rumors are true, the shows will be the group’s first appearance since 1991, when frontman Bill Million abruptly moved to Florida, thus dissolving the band. The Feelies crafted an unpretentious and layer-oriented sound that influenced R.E.M., Robert Christgau and Garden State writer Rick Moody. The band’s live shows are reportedly not-to-be-missed, so if you’re in the tri-state area, keep your head up and keep... read more
Elvis Costello goes vinyl/digital-only with April release
Elvis Costello, longtime utilizer of easily-deluxified compact discs for his expanded re-issues and re-issued expanded re-issues thereof, announced this week that his forthcoming album, Momofuku, will only play via the grooves of a vinyl platter and the miniature orchestras inside every computer. The vinyl/digital-format-only release will be available April 22 on Lost Highway, with the tried-and-true trick of including a download code with the vinyl to sway people toward having physical evidence of their love for the bespectacled icon. As for that alternating consonant-vowel title, Rolling Stone reported that it may be named after David Chang’s restaurants in New York:... read more
Nada Surf teams up with MySpace for Transmissions
Someday, an incisive cultural critic will write an epic book about the extraordinary transformation of music production, distribution and promotion over the last few years. Actually, that “epic book” will likely be a blog post, and that “incisive cultural critic” will likely be a 16-year-old kid. But regardless of who documents the changes, they are definitely taking place. In the most recent iteration, Nada Surf (whom Paste profiled earlier this year) has teamed up with MySpace on the social networking site’s Transmissions project. The band recorded seven songs live, and the videos are available on the Transmissions site, as well... read more
Josh Ritter tours this spring, haunts our sleep
Josh Ritter is going on tour; ah, the stuff that dreams are made of. Last time he went on a little jaunt, Ritter let us read his diary. We didn’t even have to go sneaking into his hotel room, digging under mattresses to find it. Dawn Landes is currently supporting his dates in the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Ritter will then return to the U.S. and join forces with Hilary Hahn. A Grammy-winning violinist, Hahn was the soloist in the score for The Village, among many other ventures. Langhorne Slim and Ingrid Michaelson will also be stopping in for a... read more
Ted Leo hits the road with Pearl Jam for six dates
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will be sharing the stage with Pearl Jam for a handful of summer concerts. Leo's crew will open for Eddie Vedder and Co. for six shows in June, two of them at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Such behemoth venues are unusual for Leo and his bandmates, but not unheard of. While the band may be better known for its intimate club performances, the Pharmacists also did a two-month tour stint with Death Cab for Cutie in 2006. In the meantime, Leo will be heading to Europe in April for a string of solo... read more
Fanboys galvanizes fanboys against Harvey Weinstein
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's got a new nickname. Previously labeled "Harvey Scissorhands" because of his notorious tactics with film editing, he's gone on to be compared to another famous movie character who's ambiguously amoral, but probably tends a little further toward outright evil than Edward Scissorhands. "Stop Darth Weinstein form ruining the movie Fanboys!" reads a header on one of the many grassroots sites now dedicated to preserving the original version of the Weinstein Co. movie Fanboys. Vader or not, Weinstein and his company are now entangled in turmoil (perhaps of the intergalactic variety?) surrounding the film they signed onto... read more
Billy Corgan talks about Virgin lawsuit
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently discussed the band's lawsuit against Virgin Records for allowing the use of their songs in Pepsi and Amazon.com commercials. "I'm sure they indicated to Pepsi that they had a right to do this, full well knowing they do not have the right," Corgan said told Billboard. The band filed a lawsuit last week against Virgin stating that the company's commercial appropriation “irreparably harmed” Smashing Pumpkins' “reputation and goodwill” with their fans. Although several ads featuring Pumpkins songs surfaced during the band's five-year hiatus, the band's main quarrel lies with unauthorized uses of its music.... read more
Beale Street Festival announces mind-boggling lineup
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Lou Reed, Buddy Guy and Fergie walk into a Memphis bar… Actually, there’s no joke here. This is an actual possibility at the Beale Street Music Festival taking place in Memphis this May. As part of the larger Memphis in May International Festival, The Beale Music Festival will bring over 65 artists from practically every genre to Tom Lee Park in Memphis over the over the May 2-4 weekend. The festival has lined up an impressive collection of music’s elder statesmen/women like Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, Buddy Guy, Santana and Bettye LaVette.... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
